This is a group picture of key Hudson casino opponents sent by the Concerned Citizens of Hudson after their meeting last July (2000) with Gov. Tommy Thompson. Ken Tilsen is positioned in the front row, to the far left. (Courtesy photo)

Ken Tilsen, a prominent St. Paul lawyer who agitated for years on behalf of civil rights activists, peaceful protesters and American Indian causes, died Sunday after a long illness. He was 85.

“He was one of the great ones, a real civil rights leader of the 1960s and 1970s,” said his friend, Bill Tilton of St. Paul, who hired Tilsen to defend him when he resisted the Vietnam War draft. “When it came to the rights of the little guy, he was the main one.”

Tilsen, a longtime resident of St. Paul’s Selby-Dale neighborhood, opened his own law firm in 1966 and practiced until 1993, when he joined the Hamline University School of Law as an adjunct professor.

A child of immigrant parents, Tilsen watched his father build housing for low-income families. His family valued “equality, working hard and using your intelligence,” according to his son, David Tilsen. His parents’ example led Ken Tilsen to take up controversial issues that many others avoided.

Tilsen contributed to the defense of the 200 or so American Indian Movement followers who took over the town of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota to protest the federal government’s treatment of American Indians in 1973.

For 25 years, he advocated for Rene Hurtado, a former member of El Salvador’s military police who sought political asylum in Minnesota after speaking out against human rights abuses in the Central American nation. He also worked with the Southern Minnesota Landowners’ Alliance, a group composed mainly of farmers opposed to the construction of a power line through their properties.

Because of his role as the president of the University of Minnesota’s Marxist-Socialist Club from 1948 to 1950, Tilsen was summoned before the House Committee on un-American Activities in 1964. He refused to answer any questions about the group’s activities before 1950. This helped cement his reputation as an undaunted defender of his beliefs.

“He wasn’t afraid of somebody who disagreed with him,” Tilton said. “He was kind and always polite — but he’d get in front of a lot of federal judges, and when a judge wouldn’t do something, he wasn’t afraid to issue a writ of mandamus (a request to a higher authority to compel a lower court to do something).”

Tilsen also represented weapons protesters who claimed they were harassed by the FBI for demonstrating in front of Honeywell sites in the Twin Cities.

“He really believed that lawyers had a choice to do the right thing and not just defend anybody or prosecute anybody,” his daughter Judith Tilsen, a Ramsey County district judge, said of the clients her father took on. “He cared deeply about fairness and justice … it wasn’t just his work, it was his passion.

Tilsen met Rachel Le Sueur, the daughter of prominent feminist and activist Meridel Le Sueur, at a protest against the St. Paul Prom Ballroom’s no-blacks policy; the two were married in 1947 and went on to have five children, adopt a sixth and care for many foster children.

David Tilsen recalled that their home was one that was always open. “You never knew who was going to be sleeping on the couch when you woke up in the morning,” he said. “It could be Woody Guthrie who swung by or just some activists who came into town for a labor protest or something. Some of these people just stayed and became part of the family.”

Tilsen was born in New Leipzig, N.D., in 1927. After briefly living in Michigan, his family relocated to the Selby-Dale area, where Tilsen attended Marshall High School. After serving in the Navy, he graduated from the University of Minnesota School of Law in 1950.

He and his wife, who died in 1998, moved into a home in Hudson, Wis., on the St. Croix River about 20 years ago. Tilsen, who was receiving hospice care, died there Sunday in the presence of his partner, Connie Goldman, and her son.

Family members gathered at the home Monday to share memories and look at photos, said Judith Tilsen, who has four other siblings: Daniel, Mark and Jocelyn Tilsen and RoseMary Freeman Massey.

The house allowed easy access to another of Tilsen’s loves: sailing, Judith Tilsen said.

“He loved being on the river,” she said. “That was his passion besides work.”

He also loved family, particularly babies, Judith Tilsen said, noting that her parents had many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Despite his distaste for the spotlight during his life, Tilsen’s family is planning to hold a memorial service to honor him, Judith Tilsen said. No date has been scheduled. A short funeral service will take place next week.

“Obviously, my dad had an incredible political mind and political voice,” Judith Tilsen said. “He leaves behind a great legacy for all of us.

Sarah Horner contributed to this report.

As you comment, please be respectful of other commenters and other viewpoints. Our goal with article comments is to provide a space for civil, informative and constructive conversations. We reserve the right to remove any comment we deem to be defamatory, rude, insulting to others, hateful, off-topic or reckless to the community. See our full terms of use here.

This is a group picture of key Hudson casino opponents sent by the Concerned Citizens of Hudson after their meeting last July (2000) with Gov. Tommy Thompson. Ken Tilsen is positioned in the front row, to the far left. (Courtesy photo)

Ken Tilsen, a prominent St. Paul lawyer who agitated for years on behalf of civil rights activists, peaceful protesters and American Indian causes, died Sunday after a long illness. He was 85.

“He was one of the great ones, a real civil rights leader of the 1960s and 1970s,” said his friend, Bill Tilton of St. Paul, who hired Tilsen to defend him when he resisted the Vietnam War draft. “When it came to the rights of the little guy, he was the main one.”

Tilsen, a longtime resident of St. Paul’s Selby-Dale neighborhood, opened his own law firm in 1966 and practiced until 1993, when he joined the Hamline University School of Law as an adjunct professor.

A child of immigrant parents, Tilsen watched his father build housing for low-income families. His family valued “equality, working hard and using your intelligence,” according to his son, David Tilsen. His parents’ example led Ken Tilsen to take up controversial issues that many others avoided.

Tilsen contributed to the defense of the 200 or so American Indian Movement followers who took over the town of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota to protest the federal government’s treatment of American Indians in 1973.

For 25 years, he advocated for Rene Hurtado, a former member of El Salvador’s military police who sought political asylum in Minnesota after speaking out against human rights abuses in the Central American nation. He also worked with the Southern Minnesota Landowners’ Alliance, a group composed mainly of farmers opposed to the construction of a power line through their properties.

Because of his role as the president of the University of Minnesota’s Marxist-Socialist Club from 1948 to 1950, Tilsen was summoned before the House Committee on un-American Activities in 1964. He refused to answer any questions about the group’s activities before 1950. This helped cement his reputation as an undaunted defender of his beliefs.

“He wasn’t afraid of somebody who disagreed with him,” Tilton said. “He was kind and always polite — but he’d get in front of a lot of federal judges, and when a judge wouldn’t do something, he wasn’t afraid to issue a writ of mandamus (a request to a higher authority to compel a lower court to do something).”

Tilsen also represented weapons protesters who claimed they were harassed by the FBI for demonstrating in front of Honeywell sites in the Twin Cities.

“He really believed that lawyers had a choice to do the right thing and not just defend anybody or prosecute anybody,” his daughter Judith Tilsen, a Ramsey County district judge, said of the clients her father took on. “He cared deeply about fairness and justice … it wasn’t just his work, it was his passion.

Tilsen met Rachel Le Sueur, the daughter of prominent feminist and activist Meridel Le Sueur, at a protest against the St. Paul Prom Ballroom’s no-blacks policy; the two were married in 1947 and went on to have five children, adopt a sixth and care for many foster children.

David Tilsen recalled that their home was one that was always open. “You never knew who was going to be sleeping on the couch when you woke up in the morning,” he said. “It could be Woody Guthrie who swung by or just some activists who came into town for a labor protest or something. Some of these people just stayed and became part of the family.”

Tilsen was born in New Leipzig, N.D., in 1927. After briefly living in Michigan, his family relocated to the Selby-Dale area, where Tilsen attended Marshall High School. After serving in the Navy, he graduated from the University of Minnesota School of Law in 1950.

He and his wife, who died in 1998, moved into a home in Hudson, Wis., on the St. Croix River about 20 years ago. Tilsen, who was receiving hospice care, died there Sunday in the presence of his partner, Connie Goldman, and her son.

Family members gathered at the home Monday to share memories and look at photos, said Judith Tilsen, who has four other siblings: Daniel, Mark and Jocelyn Tilsen and RoseMary Freeman Massey.

The house allowed easy access to another of Tilsen’s loves: sailing, Judith Tilsen said.

“He loved being on the river,” she said. “That was his passion besides work.”

He also loved family, particularly babies, Judith Tilsen said, noting that her parents had many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Despite his distaste for the spotlight during his life, Tilsen’s family is planning to hold a memorial service to honor him, Judith Tilsen said. No date has been scheduled. A short funeral service will take place next week.

“Obviously, my dad had an incredible political mind and political voice,” Judith Tilsen said. “He leaves behind a great legacy for all of us.

Sarah Horner contributed to this report.

As you comment, please be respectful of other commenters and other viewpoints. Our goal with article comments is to provide a space for civil, informative and constructive conversations. We reserve the right to remove any comment we deem to be defamatory, rude, insulting to others, hateful, off-topic or reckless to the community. See our full terms of use here.

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